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In the world of social networks, how social are you?

I wrote this article on importance of networking and then I started looking for some images (free, of course) and realized that are not many on the particular website that I am looking for to showcase a business networking event. I realized, that in this world of social networks, how social are we. We may have hundreds and thousands of connections on Facebook, LinkedIn, followers on Twitter and Instagram but do we have that people connection. I realized that I am trying to address something else here. While, in the digital economy, having social media is important but getting out and meeting new people is not less important. So advise to the immigrants is to go out and network. Let us start the original post now.

One of the integral issues of immigrants is to be able to fit culturally in the new environment. It could be a new language, new lifestyle or new way of life, but if one is not adaptable, it is going to be a difficult journey. Apparently, I was lucky as I had to constantly move, change schools, change cities and then change countries for work and made me a little bit more prone to getting used to new environments and adapt quickly. Hence, I can understand the anxiousness that it creates and the tasks that daunts on one, to be able to make new friends, talk to new people and get used to a new way of living.

That brings me to a very important point about the importance of networking and why one should do it? Birds of same feathers flock together. I am sure, you would have heard this in the past and I kind of understand as to where this saying came from. But, one needs to find a way to come out of the comfort zone and work on showing some inquisitiveness to understand the new place that they have moved to.

In the last couple of months, I have come across many people who tend to either remain in doors or tend to network with the people from their own countries. Nothing wrong, but then if one has gone through the effort of coming to a new country, why not put some extra effort in getting to know the local people? Especially, Australia is an amazing country with people from different background, nationalities and having amazing stories to share, seriously, one would literally get blown away. It is of utmost importance to go out and meet new people.

Now, the question comes as to how can one do it? To address this issue, I have come up with this list of tech meetups that will give you a start, especially if you are in Sydney. There are so many meetups on a variety of topics that are going on in different cities. If you go to a new city, in a new country especially, do some homework on the meetups there and choose to go to one’s which may be of interest to you. They might not be necessarily about your work or job but may be related to the hobby or interest that you may have. It will help in meeting local people and bring you closer to the local culture.

Here is a list of technology related meetups (in no order) that I think could benefit you if you are from IT space, and living in Sydney:

A meetup organised by Sandra, this meetup is just amazing. If you are into project management, business analysis, PMO and related operations, this meetup is for you. Very good networking opportunities with amazing speakers.

If you are into WordPress development, then this meetup is going to help you in learning it faster. They have regular events across Sydney and you also get to meet other WordPress developers and learn something new each time.

Stella Akratos is an amazing person and has put lot of hard work and effort in putting this meetup together. If you want to attend another great meetup, especially if you are in the project management, business analysis, project delivery or any of such similar roles, and you want to listen to some great speakers, join and attend the monthly events of this meetup.

Looks like an interesting meetup and apt for people from development background or one’s having astute interest in certain technology related topics that the meetup covers. The topics covered are quite unique and I am sure it is worth checking their next event out.

Anything digital is of interest to many people, if you are living in todays world. This meetup again has history of conducting some quality meetups and if you are interested in subject of digital marketing even remotely, then this meetup is for sure, going to attract your attention.

Are you a Business analyst? Well, I am and I know that this meetup is truly going to add value to a business analyst. Check out the topics and you would know the quality that this meetup can add to a BA’s life.

For a UX person, this meetup could be a lot of value add. Designing is all about ideas and what a place to get some amazing ideas from fellow designers. They have an upcoming event, which many of the designers might be interested in attending.

Do you have to do anything with Agile? Well, another meetup for an agile developer, BA, product owner, project manager, to understand the agile way of delivering projects. The topics are quite interesting and would teach a new thing each time. I am registered for the next event. Are you?

Apart from the list above, there are meetups in the areas of outdoors and adventure, tech, family, health and wellness, sports and fitness, learning, photography, food & drink, writing, language and culture, music, movements, Film, LGBTQ, Sci-fi & games, beliefs, arts, book clubs, dance, pets, hobbies & crafts, fashion and beauty, social and career and business. I hope there is something that is of interest to you.

Meetup is just one place to find events, but there are so many other event websites that one can go to and find out what is happening in the cities. Advise repeated again, go out and meet new people!

Finally, before I conclude, there is this amazing meet up that has recently started, just 2 months ago and growing with leaps and bounds. The meet up is all about helping people find jobs in Australia. Combining topics around resumes, culture, interviews, LinkedIn profile, and everything associated with finding jobs, the organizer is putting a lot of effort to conduct good events for the members of the meetup. You can check out more about this meetup here.

If you know of any meetup that you think should benefit others, do comment. Sharing is caring!